Revising Arcadia: The Landscape in Contemporary Art

In the art exhibit at the Rollins College titled Revising Arcadia: The Landscape in Contemporary Art there seemed to be themes of the exploration of nature and the relevancy of humans in nature. Also, there were themes of how humans have ravaged nature and fallacies attributed to humans because they do not rely on instinct like nature does. Furthermore, there is a consciousness of preceding artists in some works and allusions to past landscape artists who have explored the aforementioned themes.

In Alexis Rockman’s Hollywood I thought this city  most effectively captivates the themes addressed in the thesis because Hollywood is a city that is stereotypically a machine that spits out works of art in facades of beauty and sometimes intellect. Also, Hollywood movies have a tendency to glorify violence. Therefore violence toward the sign directly parallels to not only the destructed sign, but also the destructive nature of society and the machine the Hollywood is.

I also thought it was kind of witty to only display the letters “llywod” because it portrays how the art (which can be a metaphor for perception of life) displays how limiting ones senses are limiting. Furthermore, the lack of the letters “Ho” can also be a trick on the human psyche in that the viewer may assume that the remainder of the sign says “Ho” when it could logically also be the letters “Do.” It is even wittier because originally the sign said “Hollywoodland,” but because It was erected in 1923 to advertise a new housing development in the hills above Hollywood. For several years, the sign was left to deteriorate. In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce stepped in and offered to remove the last four letters and repair the rest.¹

This piece also alludes to the fact that time is the fourth dimension. For example, the sun does not correlate in the same sense of time as earth, in fact part of the way earth perceives time is from the revolution of the earth around the sun. Because in the image the sun is positioned in an angle in comparison to the earthly realm there is an implied sense of rotation. He shows imagines the future of these most beloved contemporary markers in the tradition of the sublime ruin. The transformed landscapes show how ecosystems continue to thrive, regardless.

Furthermore, even though the sun is setting, which could have a symbolic meaning of a loss of enlightenment, the way I interpreted this archetype is that the sun trying to interact with the earth in one of its most beautiful ways possible. The setting sun strengthens the theme of the destruction of humanity however, the colors it alludes to the fact that there is beauty that not only extends to the atmosphere, but the potentially infinite universe. The yellow flowers that extend toward the sun are another archetype that lead me to conclude that the setting sun is not entirely a symbol of hopelessness.

In Richard Misrach’s work titled Swamp and Pipeline, Geismar, Louisiana he addressed that nature works in a natural procedure that has evolved and accommodated to change over time. Since the primary function of nature is sustenance of existence, it is prone to less conscious fallacies and human error. For example, the trees continue to and the greenery of the swamp is at the zenith of its potential beauty. The contrast with the pipe jetting through the swamp portrays how humans have interfered with the sustenance and development of the earth.

Also, since nature is unselfconscious in such that animals react on instinct and plants act based on genetic makeup they are less vulnerable to err. However, humans are malleable and can react based on social norms and desires. Therefore, nature can be a logical comparison with the pipe because the trees are growing in a non-linear fashion they are growing in a way that is natural and carefree, however it continues to grow despite the negative impact humans have had on the trees. Conversely, the pipe, which was placed in the swamp by humans, is linear (a shape that does not naturally exist in nature) and eroding. Because humans are prone to err they are susceptible to creating unnecessary and fallible objects. Therefore, this work portrays that nature works on instinct instead of social desires.

In Susan Wides Hudson River Landscape 10.15.04 she seems to refer back to artists from the Hudson River School in the sense that both are trying to depict a contrast between the ideal of America. In which America appears to be a land of opportunity and abundant beauty, however it is contrasted with the reality of America, which it is land with many limitation of one does not fit the ideal and environmentally ignorant people have ravaged it. For example, there is a direct comparison between the beauty of foliage and the trees that have been mowed down, covered in cement, and filled with polluting cars. In the case of one of the founders of the Hudson River School Thomas Cole’s piece titled View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm (The Oxbow) (1836) sets up a similar image of a diagonal of land ravaged earth in contrast to an un fettered landscape of an oxbow river. Furthermore during the time this piece was created Great Britain still had a dominating presence in the Americas and expressed how the unfettered landscape was ravaged by colonialization.

In the pamphlet that can along with the exhibition it printed the quote from Wendell Berry, “The world of machines is running / Beyond the world of trees / Where only a leaf is turning / In a small high breeze.” This best embodies the motivation and the ideas of the Revising Arcadia Exhibition. Since the creation of humans and humans in a social arena there has always been a machine or collective power that has effected nature in some way. However, nature preceded humans and will therefore thrive throughout their ravages and environmental degradation.